Next up in our semi - irregular ‘ Get a Job ‘ series : GardenRant reader and winemaker , Anne Lerch ofHood River Vineyards .
What do you do for a bread and butter ?
My husband and I own and operate a diminished orchard , vinery and wine maker in Oregon . We grow cherries , pears , and winegrapes , plus some apple , plums and berry , all on around 50 estate . Most of our fruit is sold through a local packing house . Our small winery , Hood River Vineyards , produces around 3000 case of wine-colored / yr , include whites , reds , ciders , port and sherries , sell mostly through our taste room and hand out statewide . We ’ve been doing it for about 20 year now .
How ’d you get start in this Book of Job , or what was your first task in the plant world ?
We startle by buying a small orchard . After that , we look around for more belongings to plant winegrapes , with the idea of planting a vineyard and eventually depart a winery . The vinery and wine maker we have now was up for sales agreement at the time , and we observe circling back around to it , eventually buying it .
My husband pass some clip as a youngster on farms and has made wine for many years , but for me the learning curve was fairly steep ( I think some of our farming neighbour were taking bet about how long we would last ! ) . I had some horticulture experience , but gardening often does n’t read into farming , especially if you want to make a living at it . Other than that , I had no jobs in the flora world before this . My earlier work experience was mostly retail and managerial , with some skill research laboratory piece of work and office work . I hit the books Russian language and civilization in college , and did some journey ; I was a stay - at - home mom for almost 5 years . Not exactly ag - tailor , right ? But all of these experience have help in some way of life ; the job - resolution , the people skills , and some familiarity with various kinds of paperwork . My cross - ethnic accomplishment help too , not only with managing a work bunch , but also with incorporate into a small rural husbandry community .
What ’s your typical day like ?
There is no typical day , ever ! I ’m never bored , I wear many hat . Everything , from farm to production to marketing , is seasonally driven , and also determined by the conditions .
That said , most of the case-by-case tasks are very repetitive ( no surprise to gardeners ): pruning , raking , mow , tie up vine , thin out fruit , crushing , punch down , bottling , labeling and capsuling , pile vino cases , etc . A lot of assemblage - product line - type workplace , both indoors and out . Some people find this tedious and frustrating — you have to do these thing over and over , and status are often not idealistic — but I kind of like it . No two days are ever alike .
Also , I spend a lot of metre working in the taste room . In between pouring wine for customers , there are a million other wine maker tasks to take care of , from production to paperwork .
Dovetailing wine maker activities around land activities can be a puzzle ; land is Clarence Shepard Day Jr. - time piece of work , winery activities sometimes call for evenings . Once in a while , that ’s a veridical challenge .
What ’s the coolest thing you get to do at work , and what ’s the nastiest , most dull , most individual - sucking dreadful thing you have to do at workplace ?
Well it will be no surprisal to gardeners that I most eff make for in the orchard or vineyard . We live in a beautiful place , and there are many serendipitous moment out in the plantation or vineyard ; I see a sight of things in the natural world that are cool , and I can intermit to delight them normally . I have to say I have a fully grown preference for the vinery over the orchard . I ’m not big into ladder study , and tree diagram are just not as easy or fun to fiddle with as grapevines .
I have a love - hate relationship with working in the tasting room . I like people , and farming by itself can be isolate , so sharing our wines with people from all over the world is enjoyable , a very social activity . I ’ve met a spate of nerveless and interesting the great unwashed over the years , watched some families grow up through their visits to the tasting elbow room . But sometimes my “ people pail ” gets full , and not everyone who see is easy to deal with .
As for the nasty , most soul - sucking part of the job ? That ’s promiscuous ; all the paperwork , bookkeeping , and the regulative stuff , which makes you feel like you ’re always under someone ’s microscope . I consider I once counted that , between the farming and alcohol - spend a penny sides of our business , we answer to over 12 unlike regulative representation , each with their own fee , account requirements and inspections . Some are easygoing to work with than others .
What ’s the most common misconception about what you do ?
That it ’s always fun . No line is always fun ! And no , my biography is not a long serial publication of wine dinners and parties !
Another one : that because I own a winery , I must be productive . A vinery and wine maker is just a farm with a time value - added business confiscate . Yes , there are a lot of loaded people in the vino business ( who have often made their money somewhere else ) , but there are a lot of us Regular Joes and Josephines too , just trying to make a support .
There ’s also a lot of mythologizing of the wine-coloured manufacture , which I abhor : the golden - lighted vision of sprightliness on a chateau patio , twirling a wine glass with a beautiful person digest next to you and a gourmet spread on the table , a fantasy that many in the industry perpetuate in the selling of their products . There ’s so much posturing and fantasy , when the real thing is both more interesting , and much earthier , to my idea anyway ( but then , I ’m the kind of girl who likes crap under her fingernails ) . And really , I often do twirl a glass of wine on my deck watching the sunset , only in much mere milieu than the fantasy !
What does the future look like for your caper ? Are there technology change , outsourcing , or other force at employment that are going to change your job cash in one’s chips forth ?
The answer to this would fill a book ! But one thing I will say ; farming is an industry in desperate penury of a younger propagation to carry on , and replace all the old farmers currently out there . run multitude is an issue that will never go away .
What advice would you give to somebody think about getting into your wrinkle of oeuvre ?
A beneficial start decimal point is to candidly answer the interrogative sentence , “ Why do I want to do this ? ” Be realistic , find out out if you even like doing the sort of work involved . If you think you want a vinery for example , test growing a few vines for a few eld first . If you believe you want to make wine for a living , make some vino first ; get a business at a winery during crush ; and brush up on your account statement , paperwork and mechanical skills .
Think about how you want to spend your time : if you wish to take vacations during the rise time of year , spring through fall , leave it ; too much sound on ! If you want a tasting room , farm stand or to sell at a sodbuster ’s grocery , be prepared to sour weekends and holidays , or to hire reliable workers . If you ’re the kind of person who like routine and knowing what your day is die to be like , or likes getting a regular payroll check , do n’t get into farming or winemaking !
Both farming and winemaking involve pretty big capital investments to get establish , and it can take a long time to recoup your commence - up costs ( there ’s a saying in the wine business : “ It takes a gravid fate to make a small-scale hazard ” ) . The more you may boot - strap your operation , the happier and more successful you ’ll be .
eventually , never be afraid to ask questions !
